Echoes in time
by Misura
Summary: Sometimes places can hold memories. [Gareas/Ernest, Zero/Erts]
1. First echo

Echoes in time

Warnings/notes : Gareas/Ernest [past], Zero/Erts [present](both unestablished in the beginning of the fic), bits of bad language

Disclaimer : I don't own Candidate for Goddess. 

written at 24th june 2003, by Misura

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italics = images from the past

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:: italics :: = mental speech/thoughts

**********

At one of the many crossroads in the complex, two boys stood staring at an empty corridor.

"Not that one." Erts touched Zero's arm briefly, shaking his head. "Let's take another route."

The other boy looked at him in surprise. "Why? We're already late."

Erts shrugged uncomfortably. "I can't explain. Just a feeling."

"Do you think something will happen if we walk through it?" Zero inquired curiously.

"N-no. Not really." Erts sounded uncertain.

"Well, I know for sure something will happen if we aren't in time again. Something unpleasant. So I think I'll take the risk." Zero stepped forward.

Erts followed after a brief hesitation, wondering what made this particular corridor so different from all the other ones.

*

__

"Ernest! Wait!" Gareas ran after the blond pilot, detesting the pleading tone in his voice.

The other man didn't seem to hear or rather, as Gareas suspected, preferred to ignore him.

__

He caught up with him halfway one of the many hallways.

"Will you stop and listen to me for a second!" 

Ernest walked on, as if he wasn't there.

Grabbing his arm, Gareas forced the blond pilot to a halt.

"What *is* it with you?"

No answer. Ernest wasn't even looking at him.

"You hardly talk to anyone outside of the battles. Like you're afraid of us or something."

That did provoke a reaction, if not exactly the one Gareas might had hoped for.

Ernest punched him, using the opportunity to free his arm from the other's grip.

Gareas gasped for air, clutching his stomach, hating the silence.

He wondered why he'd even bothered to try. Ernest's behavior out of battle might be a bit strange or even shy, but there was absolutely nothing wrong when he was *in* battle.

"F-fuck you!" he managed, though he wasn't sure what annoyed him more ; Ernest's behavior or his own.

Ernest looked at him, an emotion flashing in his eyes, gone before Gareas could name it.

:: If only ... ::

Gareas blinked, knowing that thought had not been his own. 

Before he could remark on it though, Ernest had walked away again.

This time he didn't follow.

"You can't run away forever you know. You can't live your life like that without falling one day."

As expected, there was no reply to that either.

But maybe the words would reach their destination nonetheless.

"And when that day comes," Gareas whispered under his breath," I hope for all our sakes you'll talk to someone about it. We'd be your friends if only you'd let us come a bit closer. Why can't you see that?"

He sighed and went back to his own room.

*

"Well?" Zero asked as the exited the corridor and reached the main-hallway. 

"Well what?" Erts replied softly.

"Nothing bad happened, did it?"

"No. I guess."

Zero glanced sidewards, noticing how pale Erts looked. "You all right?"

"Sure. Nothing happened, did it?" the blond boy quoted.

"Hn. But something *will* happen if we don't get to the training-room within the next two minutes." 

Erts couldn't keep from smiling at that. Shoving the odd sadness he had felt in the corridor to a far corner of his mind, he sprinted after Zero. 

~tbc?~


	2. Second echo

Echoes in time

Warnings/notes : Gareas/Ernest [past], Zero/Erts [present](both unestablished in the beginning of the fic), bits of bad language

Disclaimer : I don't own Candidate for Goddess. 

written at 6th july 2003, by Misura

_italics_ = images from the past

_:: italics :: _= mental speech/thoughts

**********

The soft bright light of the stars.

The deep, dark blue of outer space.

And of course, Zion.

Zero sighed. It all looked so peaceful from here. So ... free.

While in reality.

_:: It's a battlefield. On which I'm destined to fight. ::_

At the sound of footsteps, his head snapped up, wondering who might come here, at a time like this. Seeing who it was, he relaxed slightly.

"Hey, Erts."

"Hello, Zero. I hadn't expected to find you here."

_"I should have known I'd find you at the quietest place on this ship." Gareas joked, ignoring both the look in Ernest's eyes that told him the other didn't appreciate his presence and the stab of pain it caused._

_"Gareas." Ernest inclined his head, neither welcoming nor completely hostile._

_Which was some kind of progress, Gareas supposed._

_"So ... you like watching the stars?" Personally he couldn't find much enjoyment in it._

_"They are ... silent" There was a hint of a smile in Ernest's voice._

_"Unlike me?" Gareas grinned, putting a hand on the blond's shoulder._

_:: Unlike everybody on this ship. I only want to be left alone. ::_

_"Stop lying to yourself." Gareas growled. "I'm growing sick and tired of that nonsense!"_

_:: Good. Then maybe you'll stop following me around, trying to reach me all the time. ::_

_"Let go of my shoulder." Ernest said. It was neither a plea nor a command, but rather something in between the two._

_Gareas shook his head. "Say the magical word and I'll consider it. Or make me."_

_For a moment, Ernest stared at him in confusion. _

_"Please?"_

_Gareas laughed aloud, releasing his shoulder. "I'll make a social type of you yet."_

_"Highly unlikely." Ernest grimaced._

_"Too true." Gareas sighed, sitting down next to him._

_"So ... what are *you* doing here?" Ernest inquired after a while._

_"Maybe I wanted some peace and quiet too?" Gareas suggested._

_Ernest snorted, the closest he had come to a laugh thus far._

_Gareas stared at him in mock-hurt. "What? You don't believe me?"_

_:: I'm here because, for some odd reason, I like watching *you*. ::_

_That thought he carefully kept to himself though, since he hadn't even puzzled the meaning of these feelings out yet._

_"You always seem to prefer being active, doing something. Not indulging in an activity as passive as observing space." Ernest stated._

_"Well, apparently that impression doesn't quite do me justice, does it? I'm here." Gareas pointed out logically._

_:: Because of me? ::_

_He saw the question flash in blue eyes, at the same time he heard it in his mind and turned away, to keep from betraying the answer._

_When Ernest rose, yawning and almost apologectially declaring he needed to get some sleep now, Gareas remained, staring at the stars, lost in thoughts._

"Yeah, well ... " Zero seemed for once at a loss for words.

Erts smiled. "It truly is a beautiful sight though, isn't it? So tranquil."

"Soothing." Zero agreed, before jumping up from his seat. "Soothing, but boring. Let's go do something."

Erts rolled his eyes. "I've just gotten here, Zero."

Zero's face fell and he sat down again. 

The silence lasted exactly half a minute.

"So, gazed at the stars long enough?" Zero inquired impatiently.

Erts sighed. "All right then. What did you have in mind?"

Zero grinned, grabbing the blond's hand and dragging him along. "You'll see."

~tbc?~


	3. Third echo

Echoes in time

Warnings/notes : Gareas/Ernest [past], Zero/Erts [present](both unestablished in the beginning of the fic), bits of bad language

Disclaimer : I don't own Candidate for Goddess. 

written at 29th december 2003, by Misura (yes, that's a loooooong time after the first two. hope it doesn't show too much quality-wise!)

If it hadn't been for someone e-mailing me and asking me to update this fic, I'd probably never have written this chapter. So … I hope you'll like it! And sorry for daring to forget about this fic after all those kind reviews you readers gave me. I'll really try to write more for this fic, if you don't think I lost my touch for these characters, of course. It's been a while after all … ^^;

_italics_ = images from the past

_:: italics :: _= mental speech/thoughts

**********

"Yes, I definitely think that tea's gone cold by now."

Erts looked up, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Good morning, Zero."

"It should be, now that we get to pilot the Pro-Ings again." Zero beamed, placing his tray on the table and sitting down.

Erts remained silent, staring at his tea that had, indeed, gone quite cold. Staring out of the window, he sighed softly, unwilling to let Zero press him again about his sober mood yet unable to put on a happy, carefree face, after a night of nightmares he could never quite recall in the morning.

*

_Gareas spotted Ernest as soon as he entered the mess-hall. The other future pilot tended to be painstakingly punctual, unlike Gareas who considered showing up a quarter late no reason to make such a fuss as some of their instructors did._

_Sighingly getting in line for his portion of what was supposed to pass for breakfast, he noted that Ernest was, as usual, sitting all by himself. Normally, it would have annoyed the green-haired man to see a person he considered to be his friend shut himself so determinedly off for the people around him, but this morning, it fitted in nicely with his plans._

_He intended to have a little talk with Ernest today. Somehow, he thought his odds of succes wouldn't improve any if their conversation wouldn't be as private as possible on this ship._

_Impatiently waiting for the cook to deposit a portion of food on his plate and hastily snatching it away before the ladle would double it, he sauntered over to where Ernest was awaiting him. Well, actually Ernest looked more like he wished Gareas would go sit somewhere else, anywhere but at *his* table, yet Gareas chose not to mind._

_Somewhere deep inside Ernest did enjoy his company. Or so he hoped. Cheerfully placing his tray in front of the seat opposite Ernest's, Gareas sat down with a meant "Good morning" to which Ernest chose not to reply._

_"Aren't we in a good mood today?" Gareas inquired, grimacing as he tasted his breakfast. It was edible, warm and filling, he had to admit, but tasty was quite a different case._

_"I wouldn't know about you." Ernest replied. Gareas blinked, then started to laugh._

_"You actually made a joke! See? There's hope for you still." Talking, laughing and eating at the same time was probably not a good idea, so Gareas temporarily let his spoon rest._

_Ernest sighed. "Why can't you simply leave me alone? Why do you have to be so stubborn, Gareas?"_

_The other shrugged. It wasn't as if he'd never asked himself those same questions. There were, after all, quite a lot of people on this spaceship and, sadly, Ernest was far from the only one who seemed to hardly have any social contacts._

_"Pilots are supposed to be stubborn." Gareas replied, picking this as the best sounding answer. It made sense too, because it was true. "If you're a quitter, you'll never make it. Not here, and not in any other place."_

_Ernest remained silent for a moment, seemingly considering his words. Gareas sourly wished any of his other remarks would have received so much contemplation. Stubbornness worked two ways after all ; Gareas was stubborn in wishing Ernest to come out of his shell, yet Ernest was also stubborn in refusing to do so. Unless either of them gave, they were never going to get anywhere._

_"Changing is a bad thing then?" Ernest seemed to have read his mind, even without having to touch him. Gareas postponed having to reply by taking another spoonful of breakfast. Being cooled down from 'hot' to 'warm' hadn't improved its taste in any perceivable way._

_"Not always." It wasn't a very strong response. Of course, what he actually meant was 'Not when it's you who changes, only when you want me to quit bugging you about becoming more social'. Gareas knew Ernest probably knew that too._

_"You keep double standards." Ernest remarked accusingly. Gareas snorted._

_"Either you understand me too well, or you just read my thoughts. Which of the two is it? I'm curious. And, naturally, stricken that you've seen through my facade of honesty." Gareas grinned._

_Ernest looked slightly taken aback. "I have no idea why you do what you do. And you're perfectly aware I can only read people's minds when they're touching me. Which you aren't."_

_Gareas considered Ernest's words for a few seconds then reached out his hand to softly grasp Ernest's wrist. His grip was loose enough for the other to pull free at any time, yet strong enough to allow the blond to hear his thoughts._

_"Do you really expect me to believe you're entirely unaware of why I'm trying so hard to reach you through that thick, icy shield of yours?" Gareas demanded softly._

_Ernest bit his lip, beginning to shake his head. Then his eyes widened. Almost violently jerking his arm out of Gareas' hand, he jumped up from his seat and stormed out of the hall, leaving an utterly perplexed Gareas behind. True, he had been hoping for some sort of reaction but ..._

_"What the heck is that guy's problem?" Gareas wearily eyed the remaining food on his plate. He didn't feel like eating it anymore. His stomach was too busy tying itself in knots to bother him about not being properly filled. _

_Letting his head rest on his arms, Gareas stared at the endless blue of space outside the window. The color reminded him of Ernest's eyes for some reason, even if those were much lighter. Then again, a lot of things seemed to bring Ernest to his thoughts recently._

_"And what the heck's *my* problem, for that matter?"_

*

"Would you like me to get you a new cup?" Zero offered generously. "Or would you like mine? I don't like tea that much anyway."

"No thank you." Erts replied politely. "I think it's time we should go anyway."

"Hmmm, yes. This is *one* class I definitely don't want to be late for!" Zero jumped up, beaming at the prospect of today's practice bout.

~tbc?~


End file.
